Monday morning found ourselves at Pride. A very enjoyable tour where the guide further enforced my belief that the alcohol regulation has to be the most corrupt part of state/local governments in the country.. Rant over.

The Chards were really not our style and the reds,although tasty, were a bit on the tannic side. They aware all 2015s and could easily use at least another 2-3 years before opening. IMHO,the best wine of the day was the Viognier. A clean Viognier nose, good finish and balancing acidity. No Dolly Parton in this bottle.

Headed off to T-Vine where we enjoyed all the wines. Big and fruit forward. Tried going into Calistoga but the power was shut off due to potential wind storms.

Stopped at Mumm which seems to be the one place we always go. Tried the higher end sparklers which we liked. DVX is always a fave.

The stop at Whitehall Lane was another wasted visit. We do not get these wines at all and a couple we know back home loves them. The one cab was flawed to which the woman pouring agreed. She opened a second bottle which had the same weird nose upon opening but most of it blew off. Not coked but something was off.

Tuesday————-

Started at Alpha Omega. Some impressive Chards and Cabs. A style we like. We first tasted these in DC at a Spectator event in April. Intense and balanced.

Made a quick stop at Heitz. The Trailside Cab was our favorite. The pourer recommended a stop at The Mending Wall. Since the sale they can no longer have alcohol outside until that particular license is set. Maybe within a year they said.

Stopped at The Mending Wall. We had no appointment but they comped us a couple of pours. The Sauv Blanc/Semillion blend was very tasty. The Napa Cab was also very good. Clear intense fruit and good balance. Worth the stop. This pourer told us to try Brian Alden.

The Alden style is very intense fruit with decent balance. They try to stick to single varietal wines but their Syrah/Cab/Cab Franc blend was the best of the bunch. The Napa Cab was, again, another intense well balanced wine. So was the Cab Franc but it was not quite so typical of Cab Franc. Tasted more like Cabernet Sauvignon.